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February is the month of romance, therefore, I have decided to brush up on my Spanish. After my short break from language learning in December and January, as of February I plan to re-focus on Mandarin Chinese.

To help keep me motivated I’ll be posting my Chinese Mandarin and Spanish progress in the #15x100Challenge. It’s a motivational community aimed at a creating a more mindful approach to achieving goals by focusing on just 1 thing a day, for a minimum 15 minutes over a 100 day period.

My Language Goals for February

My goal for February is to reactivate my basic vocabulary of Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. I’ll be working through a beginners course on Memrise and completing my Duolingo tree in Spanish. I also plan to use simple crosswords and word search puzzle books to actively engage in reviewing vocabulary.

Memrise is a rather addictive resource and luckily I have found both a Spanish and Mandarin course that are well organised with audio throughout. This month I’ll also be boosting my vocabulary for free with LingoHut to get back on track with Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

Spanish

I want to get back to at least B1 conversational level in Spanish and work towards my HSK level 1 in Mandarin… So that I can feel more confident when talking to native speakers. I am a false-beginner in both Spanish and Mandarin; having learnt the languages on and off over the last few years. I have a basic understanding of the grammar and somewhere buried in the back of my head is an awesome vocabulary list that needs to be reawakened!

Public accountability of taking part in language challenges really helps my motivational levels and this year I plan to get involved in a few of them!

As it is the international year of Indigenous languages I don’t want to neglect our very own indigenous languages in the UK. So I plan to go back to my ancestral roots this month with Anglo-Romani (Romany Gypsy). As well as exploring Gaelic and Irish. I have created a Pinterest board for Anglo-Romani.

Chinese Mandarin

Mandarin is the main language that I will be studying this year. Learning a foreign language isn’t easy. I feel the best way to truly learn is to actively speak and listen to the language as much as possible. Therefore I have booked a package on Italki so I can get as much tutoring in as possible. I plan on 2/45 minute tutorials a week.

Italki is an excellent resource and one that I regularly use to help me learn languages via Skype lessons. These lessons offer flexibility that fits perfectly into my busy lifestyle. Lessons can vary in price but start from about $5 for a 30 minute session. Register using this link to receive an additional $10 in credits after you have complete your first paid lesson!

The Power of Accountability

Throughout February my Spanish and Mandarin study time will be held accountable by being in a language challenge and my desire to stay at the top of my Memrise and Duolingo leaderboards! My public pledge to study a language for at least 15 minutes per day, everyday has certainly helped my motivational levels.

What languages are you studying this month and will you be taking part in the indigenous language challenge in 2019?

#CleartheList is a goal setting network of dedicated language learners. I have to say I really enjoy reading the other blogs and I am inspired deeply by the dedication of the #CleartheList community. I would like to say a big thank you to the hosts Lindsay (Lindsay Does Languages) and Shannon Kennedy (Eurolinguiste). The aim of Clear the List is to set and share your language learning goals for any given month and then obviously try your best to achieve them by the end of it!